And it might sound unfair to compare the fairphone to a pixel device or a pixel device with grapheneos but the practical reality is that if this is going to be my one phone, than it will be the hub for all my private conversations, my bank forces me to use an app based authentication so basically my entire finances are on that device, e-mails, including those with doctors, etc.
It has to be secure and it has to up to date. And I am aware that my Pixel 3a currently isn't but I'm literally between buying the fairphone or the pixel 8. And I really don't want glued in batteries.
In November and December each there is at least one Critical System CVE, with google noting:
> Note: There are indications that the following may be under limited, targeted exploitation.
> CVE-2023-33063
> CVE-2023-33107
> CVE-2023-33106
So...Those aren't patched right now on the fairphone 4, are they? Now I'm not arguing most other companies are doing better, but that doesn't make it a good situation.
> And you would even prefer Lineage OS? Isn't that still more or less mandating userdebug builds and entirely open?
As far as lineage is concerned, i'll be waiting for an official release to even be there before evaluating the security but I am aware of the userdebug issue.
Though let me say that "abhorrent" is propably not the best adjective to describe it here. Unsatisfying would be fairer. As for the rest of the software... I just have to look at the forums dude...
Okay, that is fair: I am also not happy about us being late with security patches for several weeks. I am not directly involved in that anymore, but I believe, we currently have a policy to release updates quarterly.
Back when I was still working on security updates, this took up so much resources that we struggled to work on anything else (bug fixes, major upgrades, etc.). It is unfortunately a compromise that we currently have to make with our limited resources.
Still, we are planning to release these regular security updates for 10 years and we have a track record of sticking to such plans. In my opinion, that is much better than having monthly updates for a couple of years. (Btw: outside of flagships, many models don't get monthly updates anyway and not even for long.)
And you would even prefer Lineage OS? Isn't that still more or less mandating userdebug builds and entirely open?
Disclaimer: I work for Fairphone.